February 2012

Wow. I'm feeling so appreciative of your enthusiastic response to the fabric kits! I'm so glad that they're something that you'll find useful. I truly love sourcing fabric and putting together the kits - it's become one of my favorite parts of my job! Thanks again, friends.

This moment was perfect. Last week, as the sun rose and peeked through my bedroom windows, Finn found a special vial of bubbles from our local science museum. They are unpoppable. What's more magical than that? (And yes, the bedroom is still halfway painted and it's been that way since the weekend we moved in! Must get to that before the boys grow up.)

I can't find a recipe for unpoppable bubbles, though - do any of you know one? Our little vial is sure to run out pretty quickly!

I think you'll really like these kits. You see, I know that just getting to the part where you sit down and sew can be the biggest hurdle of all. When I start a project, I prefer to see and touch my fabric in person. How else will I know that the fabrics have a nice drape, or that they look good together? But with two little ones? Driving forty minutes to my nearest independent fabric store and wandering the displays - slowly - is just not gonna happen. Moreover, I often can't find all of my notions in one store. (Especially for patterns like the Art Satchel, which require plexiglass, elastic hair ties, and a magnetic snap.) All of this requires lots of driving and lots of time. And if you're ordering your things online, it requires paying shipping from various locations.

Enter my kits. I created them for you! I really hope that they will help you get to the part you really love - sitting down and sewing - the stress relieving part of this creative pursuit. They'll save you time and money and they'll take the guess work out of handmade gift giving.

The Huck Finn Cap Fabric Kit, in Spring Green and Blue Spark colorways (and yes, this was taken last September - that there is the first time Lachlan sat up unaided! Thanks to Jessi for catching it on camera.)

Here's how it's going to work. There are several different colorways and fabric combos available for each of the five patterns mentioned above. The fabric combos are limited edition. I can only source certain fabrics for a short time. The industry is like that - fabrics go out of print rather quickly. So if you see something you like, snatch it up! I will, however, always have kits available - the fabrics will just change. If you'd like to be notified when new kits become available, be sure you're signed up for my mailing list (enter your email at the bottom of the side bar to the right.)

Oh - I forgot to mention that if you already have the pattern, no worries. The kits only contain fabric/notions to accommodate those of you who already have a Sew Liberated pattern collection. ;) If you need the pattern, too, just add that to your cart as well.

To celebrate the release of the kits, we've made everything in the shop 15% off thru March 15th. Just apply the coupon code

"kits2012"

to your order

.

Do you have any patterns that you'd really like me to offer fabric kits for? I can do any pattern in either of my books, too. Let me know!

We were three mittens short. Yes, we were caught off guard, given the nearly seventy-degree weather we had on Saturday. No matter, I'm glad to see snow. We've had a seriously bizarre "winter" here. Oftentimes, I've found it hard to explain to Finn exactly what this supposed Winter is, especially compared to Autumn and Spring. I can't tell you how many times I've been told, "Mama, it's Summer!" as he traipsed about barefoot in the dirt.

I put on the Christmas music last night. I can't help it.

Patrick was gone last week for work, and I got my chance to focus solely on the boys for a handful of days. It required a lot more forethought than I generally put into everyday happenings (bedtime, meals, getting out the door - all are much easier with another set of adult hands around!)but it was lovely. I even fell asleep between them around 8 p.m. each night.

As I creak open the door of my office, I do so refreshed. I can hear Patrick and the boys roughhousing downstairs. Some sort of falling off a horse thing. Or maybe they're playing Wildebeest and Jaguar. In any case, there is shreaking and laughing in the soundtrack of my morning.

Sometimes I go through my days thinking that I am a stay-at-home mom. Wishing, perhaps. Perhaps you think I'm a stay-at-home mom, too? Looking through my blog archives, it certainly seems like I spend all of my time focused on parenting.

But I don't.

I am a work-at-home mom, a title that comes with its own benefits and drawbacks. Oh, sometimes I pine over the fact that motherhood will never be my only job - I really do. I wonder how I can balance this small business and homeschooling. Many women I know are incredible stay-at-home mamas, and I wonder if I will ever be able to dedicate that amount of time to my boys.

But ... then again ... from my boys' perspecitve, they have a stay-at-home mama and a stay-at-home daddy. One of us is always with them. So while Patrick and I may split a (more than) full-time job, our boys are lucky to have quality time with both of us.

Co-parenting. Co-working. Co-cooking. Co-cleaning. Co-everything. Patrick and I are partners. Together, we will make the "homeschooling parent." Together, we make sure food is on the table, three meals a day. Together, we magange and build Sew Liberated. Together, we hold our family together through very tough circumstances. Together, we laugh. A lot.

Love. It's more than a flutter of excitement in your heart. It's everything else, too.

I think Finn would bathe baby doll every day if given the option. Alas, his bathing fervor does not necessarily extend to his OWN body. Unless, of course, you count mud baths. :)

Given both boys' proclivity for dirt play, baby doll is often handled by little, messy hands. (What does this say for my house? Thank goodness I have an old, brown couch.) Baby Doll, although Finn's Mini Me, gets plenty of love from Lachlan, too. Lots of wide-open-mouthed kisses. Oh, Baby Doll. You're a forgiving little fellow.

The birthday preparations have begun for our little almost-one-year-old love. Finn's on board, Mama has Lachlan's very own Baby Doll doppelganger in the works, and we're perusing healthy "cake" recipes to make for this important milestone. Finn had a very mellow first birthday celebration - we had no party, just a few days at the seashore. But when you give birth to a baby not knowing whether he will live to see his first birthday, you celebrate when he does. There's plenty to celebrate this February 27th. Plenty indeed.

Sometimes, in my bag of parenting tricks that I've gathered from here and there, I tend to forget things. It's a big bag of a lot of randomness, with some Montessori thrown in, a dose of Waldorf for good measure, and a good amount of attachment parenting. And yes, some may find the bits of granola dispersed through this parenting bag a bit messy ... even funny. But it works, and that's how we learn to be parents - by throwing past experiences and good ideas into that bag, hoping that we can a.) find the bag when we need to pull something out, and b.) rifle through it to find that particular idea among a sea of others.

Lately I've been thinking to myself that I need to clean out this disorganized mess. I'll be the first to admit that I'm addicted to parenting books. I need to break that. There's just too much information coming in.

All of this is a long-winded way of saying that I'm rediscovering the value of Montessori's Practical Life exercises in my home, after nearly forgetting about them. I gave up the idea of being a Saint-in-Residence a while back, ;) a character trait that some believe Montessori and Waldorf parenting necessitates. Yet, even though I got rid of those unrealistic ideas from my parenting bag, that didn't mean that I threw out some simple tools - dare I say the backbone (at least a supporting leg?) - of the philosophies themselves.

And you know what? Even if neither of these two philosophies truly resonate with you, the idea of giving young children meaningful work to do in the home is an amazing parenting tool. It calms nerves. It centers children. It gives them confidence. It develops their capacity to concentrate. Out of it will come content for creative play. It allows you, the parent, to get a few things done while they work. Setting up activities for your child makes you feel like a capable parent (when I often feel like I'm floundering in the murky waters of sibling messes.) I love me some Practical Life.

I thought I'd share with you some of what we're doing around here in terms of meaninful "work" for Finn.

Today, I had some pictures of this recent beeswax-fest on my camera. You will need some polishing cloths (I made mine from Little Folks flannel), a very small spoon for applying the wax to the cloth, and some yummy beeswax/jojoba oil blend from my go-to practical life resource, Montessori Services.

Wax anything that's unfinished wood - from the play kitchen to toys to tables. It helps to have a smaller container of beeswax so there's a limited amount and it is used more judiciously. You see the whole jar here because I forgot my own advice. Next time, next time. Now our kitchen is super-waxed!

Best of all? Thirty minutes of contented work. For all of us.

Oh! P.S. The apron pattern (including the template for all of the embroidery work) can be found here!

welcome

I'm Meg McElwee, a multi-passionate artist dividing my creative energy between fiber, paint, parenting, and the written word. Perhaps the most creative of all my pursuits is experimenting with the mixture of motherhood and art. My favorite thing to do is marvel at the world alongside my three young children, whom I unschool. I fill our days with adventure in nature, art projects, oodles of books, and family music jams.
I have authored two sewing books, and taught a class on Craftsy. You can find my sewing patterns at Sew Liberated